Water for Coffee Resources

This is a difficult topic, and there is no one single universal answer. The best I can offer is guidance, here are the three main scenarios:

Hard water:

  • Soften with reverse osmosis (effective but expensive)

  • Soften with ion exchange eg.a Brita (not as effective, cheap)

  • Bottled mineral water (wasteful)

  • Recipe water - homemade or Third Wave Water (extra work, relatively expensive if demineralised water is not cheap to acquire)

Soft to Medium Hard water

  • Soften with ion exchange eg.a Brita (not as effective, cheap)

  • Bottled mineral water (wasteful)

  • Recipe water - homemade or Third Wave Water (extra work, relatively expensive if demineralised water is not cheap to acquire)

  • Do nothing, if the water isn’t too bad. (The best option of all, but only useful to those whose water is in the range around ideal)

Soft Water

  • Remineralise your water (cheap, but extra work)

  • Bottled water (wasteful)

If you want to read more about water:

Water for Coffee (out of print for now, hard to get hold of - but excellent)

The Water Quality Handbook

https://baristahustle.com/blog/diy-water-recipes-the-world-in-two-bottles/

https://baristahustle.com/blog/diy-water-recipes-redux/

Jim Schulman’s Insanely Long Water FAQ (pdf)